Many consumers experience a stain on their clothing when they are away from home, such as might occur when dining out before a theater engagement. Appearing in public with a clothing stain can be embarrassing to the wearer. If such a stain were to occur at home, the wearer could choose another garment or might be able to effectively treat the stain with a stain treatment system. When away from her house, her options may be limited.
There are presently stain treatment systems, such as pens and wipes, that release a stain treatment fluid and can be used to scrub a stain. The pens tend to be shaped like ordinary drawing markers, the bulkiness of which might drive some consumers to only carry such a pen when they are carrying a purse. However, if the consumer does not often carry a purse, they are vulnerable to a stain occurring when they are without a stain treatment system.
If the consumer carries a wipe for treating stains, the consumer can grasp the wipe and scrub the stain. The wipes can contain a formulation of color safe bleaches and surfactants. Some of these formulations can have an odor that the consumer might not like. By handling the wipe, such odor may be imparted to the consumer's skin, which might conflict with a perfume the wearer has donned. Further, some consumers might not like the feeling of grasping a wet wipe that might have a soapy feel.
One approach to stain treatment is to consider the discrete characteristics of the stain and identify and effective treatment strategy for each element. For example, one approach is to remove what can be removed and bleach what cannot be removed. Removing stains, particularly greasy stains, from fabrics can be challenging. Applying a surfactant to the stain can help with treating greasy stains. A surfactant that is stored in the interstitial spaces between fibers of a fibrous web can be delivered to a fabric when the consumer applies pressure to the fibrous web while scrubbing the stain. Alternatively, a surfactant can be delivered to the fabric through a pen type arrangement in which the head of the pen is pushed into the pen to release a stain treatment fluid. To help the stain be released from the fabric, a scraper, fibrous web, or brush can be used to dislodge the stain. Developers of this approach have sought to improve efficacy by optimizing the stain treatment fluid.
With these limitations in mind, there is a continuing unaddressed need for a compact, convenient to carry, stain treatment apparatus.
Further, there is a continuing unaddressed need for a stain treatment system that allows the consumer to use the stain treatment apparatus without having the stain treatment fluid contact her hand.
Further, there is a continuing unaddressed need for a stain treatment system in which the portion of the implement that helps to deliver a stain treatment fluid to a stain can also help with moving the stain from the fabric to at least a portion of the stain treatment system.